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Topic: Old Gretsch (Read 302 times)

For some reason we get a lot of these (and similar modles) locally (usually at 12th Fret, but this is a private sale). Looks nice and reasonably well kept. Price seems not too bad either (CAD2.1K - which is about US$1.6k); but still out of my range. Nice to look at tho.

The single cutaway 6073 usually brings the highest price due to the Peter Tork/Monkees connection.

That, and its short scale which makes it actually playable. The long-scale 6070/6072 with their bridge about mid-body places the nut very far away and feels awkward, almost like it's 40" scale. And of course they are ridiculously neck-heavy. I'd say that with its huge neck, flat fretboard, and crazy neck-dive, the 6070 is the least comfortable bass ever made. But it also is one of the most attractive basses.

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A bad day of playing bass is still better than a good day of playing cello.

Interesting. The seller does say it is a 6070 - I forgot to mention that earlier. The price did seem pretty good though (still out of reach for me - especially given what Ilian is saying about playability). That's probably mostly due to the neck heel binding cap missing.

Interesting. The seller does say it is a 6070 - I forgot to mention that earlier. The price did seem pretty good though (still out of reach for me - especially given what Ilian is saying about playability). That's probably mostly due to the neck heel binding cap missing.

Love the finish tho - is that wear on the neck or the original burst?

It's the burst. And the heel cap on mine also deteriorated.

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A bad day of playing bass is still better than a good day of playing cello.

Bernard Paganotti plays a bass like that, which I think he's owned since the '60s. There must be something to them, as he also played custom Jacobacci basses, and presumably could get basses built to any spec he wanted.

Do these basses have end pins? Gretsch made a bass like that and I've seen it called a 'cello' bass in literature.

It has an end button but when I bought the bass the spike was long gone.

Even Entwistle had a 6070 at one point.

This is the catalog pic. And an old pic (16 years ago) of myself with the 6070. I have always liked double-cut Gretsches because they look like George Harrison's guitar on the Ed Sullivan Show, I thought it was the best looking guitar I've ever seen. And then I learned there was a bass version so I had to have one.

« Last Edit: November 19, 2017, 07:32:45 AM by ilan »

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A bad day of playing bass is still better than a good day of playing cello.